IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sls/ipmsls/v41y20215.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is Egypt Really More Productive than the United States? The Data behind the Penn World Table

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Inklaar
  • Pieter Woltjer

Abstract

A new feature in recent versions of the Penn World Table (PWT) is data on comparative levels of total factor productivity (TFP) across countries. TFP is defined as the efficiency with which inputs are transformed into outputs, and differences across countries can be due to factors such as better technology or better resource allocation. Yet, surprisingly, in PWT version 10.0, a number of low-income countries have a TFP level well above that of the United States. In this article we discuss the case of Egypt in 2017. PWT then reports a productivity level that is 23 per cent higher than that of the United States despite having an income level of only one fifth of the US level. We trace this anomalous outcome to the underlying data on comparative inputs. A fully satisfactory answer to the question in the title is elusive at this point, but the analysis highlights the data challenges that affect TFP level estimates, alongside more familiar modeling and measurement challenges.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Inklaar & Pieter Woltjer, 2021. "Is Egypt Really More Productive than the United States? The Data behind the Penn World Table," International Productivity Monitor, Centre for the Study of Living Standards, vol. 41, pages 118-137, Fall.
    • Handle: RePEc:sls:ipmsls:v:41:y:2021:5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.csls.ca/ipm/41/IPM_41_Inklaar.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Angel de la Fuente & Rafael Doménech, 2006. "Human Capital in Growth Regressions: How Much Difference Does Data Quality Make?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 4(1), pages 1-36, March.
    2. Daniel Cohen & Marcelo Soto, 2007. "Growth and human capital: good data, good results," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 51-76, March.
    3. Barro, Robert J. & Lee, Jong Wha, 2013. "A new data set of educational attainment in the world, 1950–2010," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 184-198.
    4. Alexander Bick & Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln & David Lagakos, 2018. "How Do Hours Worked Vary with Income? Cross-Country Evidence and Implications," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(1), pages 170-199, January.
    5. Cohen, Daniel & Leker, Laura, 2014. "Health and Education: Another Look with the Proper Data," CEPR Discussion Papers 9940, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nadir ALTINOK, 2017. "Analyse critique et méthodologique des données d‘éducation de l’Afrique subsaharienne," Working Paper 688bd54b-760c-443b-8343-7, Agence française de développement.
    2. Yan Meng & Christopher F. Parmeter & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2023. "Is newer always better? A reinvestigation of productivity dynamics using updated PWT data," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 1-13, February.
    3. Yan Meng & Christopher F. Parameter & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2021. "Is Newer Always Better? A Reinvestigation Of Productivity Dynamics," CEPA Working Papers Series WP062021, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    4. Castelló-Climent, Amparo & Mukhopadhyay, Abhiroop, 2013. "Mass education or a minority well educated elite in the process of growth: The case of India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 303-320.
    5. Michael S. Delgado & Daniel J. Henderson & Christopher F. Parmeter, 2014. "Does Education Matter for Economic Growth?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 76(3), pages 334-359, June.
    6. Ángel de la Fuente & Rafael Doménech, 2024. "Cross‐country data on skills and the quality of schooling: A selective survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(1), pages 3-26, February.
    7. Oscar Hernán Cerquera Losada & María de los Ángeles Clavijo Tovar & Carla Yanella Pérez Peña, 2022. "Capital humano y crecimiento económico: evidencia empírica para Suramérica," Apuntes del Cenes, Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, vol. 41(73), pages 143-167, February.
    8. Castro Souza Junior, Jose Ronaldo & Gross, Daniel & Figueiredo, Lizia, 2023. "The determinants of economic institutions and the knock-on effects on GDP per capita," MPRA Paper 116277, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Uwe Sunde & Thomas Vischer, 2015. "Human Capital and Growth: Specification Matters," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 82(326), pages 368-390, April.
    10. Gradstein, Mark & Brückner, Markus, 2013. "Income and schooling," CEPR Discussion Papers 9365, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Cervellati, Matteo & Meyerheim, Gerrit & Sunde, Uwe, 2019. "The timing of the demographic transition and economic growth," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 43-46.
    12. Patrinos, Harry Anthony & Psacharopoulos, George, 2011. "Education : past, present and future global challenges," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5616, The World Bank.
    13. Rudolf Kubík, 2015. "What is the Real Effect of Schooling on Economic Growth?," Prague Economic Papers, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2015(2), pages 125-135.
    14. Frédéric Docquier & Çağlar Ozden & Giovanni Peri, 2016. "The Labour Market Effects Of Immigration And Emigration In Oecd Countries," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: The Economics of International Migration, chapter 6, pages 187-226, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    15. Nicola Gennaioli & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2013. "Human Capital and Regional Development," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(1), pages 105-164.
    16. Glawe, Linda & Wagner, Helmut, 2022. "Is schooling the same as learning? – The impact of the learning-adjusted years of schooling on growth in a dynamic panel data framework," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    17. Barker, Tom & Üngör, Murat, 2019. "Vietnam: The next asian Tiger?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 96-118.
    18. David E. Bloom & Alex Khoury & Vadim Kufenko & Klaus Prettner, 2021. "Spurring Economic Growth through Human Development: Research Results and Guidance for Policymakers," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(2), pages 377-409, June.
    19. Nadir Altinok & Claude Diebolt & Jean-Luc Demeulemeester, 2014. "A new international database on education quality: 1965--2010," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(11), pages 1212-1247, April.
    20. Devadas,Sharmila & Elbadawi,Ibrahim Ahmed & Loayza,Norman V., 2019. "Growth after War in Syria," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8967, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    TFP; productivity;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sls:ipmsls:v:41:y:2021:5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CSLS (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cslssca.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.